Recently, Fresh Air of National Public Radio ran an old recording of an interview with late singer and song-writer, Abby Lincoln who passed away on Saturday, August 14th. In a 1993 interview, Terry Gross of Fresh Air asked Abby Lincoln about her glamorous singing career in night clubs and how that affected her as a singer and artist. Abby Lincoln commented that early in her career image was everything -- you dressed in evening gowns with every hair in place, looking like certain artists because that was expected of a singer, particularly a black singer in the era that she was singing. in the midst of the interview she expressed how very confining it was for her because she could not be what she wanted to be, she had to fit an image that was acceptable to her audience. In the interview Abby responded to Terry's image question by saying "people believe what they see."
Initially, Lincoln's statement seemed rather innocuous and predictable. The more I thought about this statement, the more profound it seemed to me. How often don't we live our lives by living out the expectations of others? As young parents we worry about whether or not our child is developing normally and we enroll our children in everything from "books and babies" at the public library to parent-child swim lessons at age 2. As our kids get older, we enroll them in every summer program, extra-curricular activity, and private lessons because our kids must be in good in something. After all its all about image. Instead of letting our children discover their potential on their own, we choose to orchestrate our child's social life so they won't appear different than the other children. Its all about image. Even as adults we get "hung up" on image. We spend a great deal of money on our make-up, on our hair, and on our clothing. It's all about image. We have to own the newest car, the best gun, the biggest house, or have a home theater and entertainment center installed in our basement. All of this is about image -- an image that binds the spirit within us and pushes the sacred and the real further and further from the Creator God who lovingly and carefully created us. Instead of freeing the God-gifted spirit within us, we bind up our spirit with material chains that keep us from warmly and lovingly embracing the spirit within.
Lincoln shared openly her struggle of coming to peace with her own skin -- her own spirit. She never really felt comfortable with the 'acceptable image', the one her audience expected of a singer and song-writer. Her struggle with image eventually led her to shift from night clubs, jazz venues and formal concerts to songs that reflected the human struggles of the world. She wrote songs about justice, songs about peace, songs about responsibility and song of social consciousness that often reflected upon the struggles of African Americans. It was only when she found the strength to forge her own image that she was able to embrace the God-gifted spirit within her. Are we comfortable with our skin? The one that God breathed into us or are we strung out on an image that satisfies the expectations of others?
And so I babble on. I babble on about image an image that we believe we must project for our neighbors and friends because we are so afraid of the God-gifted spirit within -- the One who formed our inward parts and knit us together in our mother's womb. Are we afraid to come face to face with the spirit within us and so we create an alternative image that keeps us safe from facing our emptiness. What chains bind our spirits today? Are we able to embrace the God-gifted spirit within us? Or will we continue to fill our spiritual emptiness with images that make our neighbors smile? The answer is in you.
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